The Vitamin C Shower Filter, a Good Gift for Someone Who Prefers to Ignore Science

You could drink your orange juice and eat your guavas, but where's the fun in that? The new way to get vitamin C is to bathe in it. A company called Vitashower (it also makes deluxe boat seats, by the way) claims that their Vitamin C Shower Filter will make your skin soft and your hair glossy. The $40 device attaches to your showerhead and infuses the water with "pharmaceutical grade vitamin C," which purportedly neutralizes chlorine.

While it's true that vitamin C can benefit your skin—the antioxidant can be found in a ton of skin-care products—according to dermatologist Doris Day, there's no evidence that showering in vitamin-enriched water has any effect on your skin or hair. "While it may neutralize some of the chlorine in the water, there's no direct skin benefit," she says. "The amount of chlorine in tap water is there to protect against disease, and is at levels that are considered safe by the government."

Pseudoscience or not, vitamin C showers have begun popping up in luxury hotels and condos that target wellness-oriented (but not necessarily scientifically minded) people. The MGM Grand in Las Vegas offers antioxidant showers in some of their fancier rooms. And vitamin C showerheads are one of the perks built into "wellness real estate firm" Delos's multimillion-dollar healthy homes. (Leonardo DiCaprio reportedly bought one recently in New York City.)